A new season of Hollywood Exes kicks off on July 8, and judging by the show’s extended trailer on VH1′s website, there will be more conflict between the ladies this go-round. Fans will also notice a new face this season, as Shamicka Lawrence, the ex-wife of legendary comedian Martin Lawrence, joins the cast and doesn’t shy away from some of the drama that takes place.

Recently, I caught up with Drea Kelly to find out what else we can expect during Season 2 of Hollywood Exes for my weekly celebrity news/gossip column on Fuzion Magazine‘s website. She also dished on whether she thinks VH1 wants Hollywood Exes to go in the direction of some of the network’s other reality shows, like Basketball Wives and Love & Hip-Hop; and she opened up more this season about her ex-husband, iconic R&B crooner R. Kelly. Check out highlights from the interview below.

ON THERE BEING MORE CONFLICT ON THE SHOW THIS SEASON:

“It’s like when you put a bunch of people in the house in the summer time, the heat irritates people. With any sisterhood, if you spend enough time around each other, you get on each other’s nerves eventually. But at the end of the day, the bottom line is that we still love each other. But it’s not the conflict that’s at the center of our show, it’s how we handle the conflict that’s at the center of our show. And I think it would be a falsehood to say that we don’t get into it, that we don’t have arguments. But what is the true part about it is that at the end of the day, we still respect each other and love each other, and the way we resolve it, I think needs to be seen.”

ON IF SHE THINKS VH1 WANTS HOLLYWOOD EXES TO GO IN THE SAME DIRECTION AS LOVE & HIP-HOP AND BASKETBALL WIVES:

“Oh not at all, not at all. Not to take anything from anyone else on VH1, because again, they’re a part of my television family, but you’re talking about a different group of women. So you’re not talking about somebody who has never been exposed to the life of celebrity, who’s never been exposed to a Maybach or a Lamborghini, never been exposed to red bottoms, so you’re going to act a little differently when you’re accustomed to a certain lifestyle. So for us, we are representing a legacy. We’re not talking about women who were married to men that nobody knew. We’re talking about the king of R&B, we’re talking about Prince, we’re talking about the king of comedy, we’re talking about Eddie Murphy here. So you really can’t even compare the two, so to say we would act a certain way because our counterparts do, you would have to step back from that and go but you know what? Just like music has different genres, VH1 and these reality series have a different genre. I would like to say that we’re coming from a level of royalty because we have been with men that were such big icons. But again, our show is not about those men, what they did, and why they divorced us, it’s about why they married us in the first place, because we are classy, because we are educated, so that’s what we show.”

ON HER OPENING UP MORE ABOUT R. KELLY ON THIS SEASON OF THE SHOW:

“You know what, I’m not afraid to open up about it, because I don’t think that it’s ‘oh, she’s bashing her ex on TV, she’s bashing R. Kelly,’ ’cause that’s never going to happen because again, we’re still family. ‘Cause we’re divorced, does not mean we’re not family. We have children together, so we will be bound to each other for the rest of our lives, but it’s also real. What I’m going through, a lot of women go through. Even if it’s, I worked while my husband went to school because he wanted to become a dentist, and then when he finally became a dentist, I’m thinking I want to start my business, but he’s on some ol’, ‘the kids are small; why can’t you do it when the kids get out of school?’ Women, we find ourselves in those situations a lot when we give so much of ourselves for our partners, our children. But then when it comes to us, when we put ourselves first, suddenly, we’re made to feel like the bad guy. Like we’re doing something that’s totally selfish when it’s not. At some point, we have to be supported; we can’t always be the air in everybody else’s balloon. So I felt that that’s something I need to share. Not bashing, but to let other women know, just like you go through it, I go through it too. And so does Mrs. Jones across the street. Many of us as women have put ourselves on the back burner, and then when we feel like, it’s time for me now, you don’t feel that full support. That’s a very disheartening thing to go through, but I think being that mouthpiece for women, will show them that even Drea Kelly goes through that. But you know what, I’m not going to stop; my dream will not die whether you support me or not. I’m going to keep going. And I think that’s something that had to be shared.”

Hollywood Exes, Season 2 premieres Monday, July 8 at 10 pm on VH1. To read the rest of my interview with Drea, go to Fuzion Magazine‘s website.

It’s girl for Kobe and Vanessa Bryant!!
The couple welcomed their third daughter into the world last week in Orange County, California. Kobe announced over the summer via social media that he and Vanessa were expecting …

Multiple mosques in California received identical copies of a letter telling them them that President-elect Donald Trump is “going to do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the jews” [sic]. The letters coincide with …

Singer Sevyn Streeter was scheduled to perform the national anthem prior to the Philadelphia 76ers home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. And during her performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Streeter planned …

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers destroyed the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. The Cavaliers beat the Knicks 126-94 at Madison Square Garden to advance to 15-5 on the season, and they actually led …

Although they never made it down the aisle, the split between Mariah Carey and her ex-fiancé James Packer is getting nasty!!
Reportedly, the pop diva wants Packer to pay her $50 million for the expenses she …